According to the tradition this does not mean changing your name or your dress code or your occupation, it means an internal change, a change in the way we view reality.

Emotional reactions to situations or the actions we take due to our beliefs and values, cease to be necessary. Instead, an inner sense of freedom arises: in other words the yogi, or one who practices yoga, may free oneself from imprinted reactions and the inability to see the truth.

In the workshop we will observe and discuss the tools that we have that may help us to acquire this state of being.

Saturday workshop: “I ” in day to day life verses day to day life without the ” I ”

Pranayama for the solar plexus

Kundalini and the manipura chackra

Vijjnana for the manipura chackra

An asana practise based on the Primary series where we direct attention to postures that support freedom from emotional overload. We explore our world through the asana in a way that will allow more space within us to contain the world.

In the second half of the day we explore Yoga philosophy. Through studying and discussing ancient texts taken from the Mahabharata, we discover the tools that we can take into our daily lives that will allow us to apply what we have learned. As we discover the story of Savittri, studying the text from a vijjnana perspective, we learn how the wisdom contained in this story may be applied to our own spiritual journey in order to free ourselves from our emotional “I “.

Sunday workshop theme: The “I” in a relationship, and a relationship without the “I”

Karl Jung said: “Where there is use of power there is lack of love and where there is love there is no need for use of power.”

In this workshop we will try to shed light on relationships, on our body’s reaction to relationships and how the yoga tradition deals with the issue.

Pranayama that supports freedom from emotional overload due to relationships

Kundalini and the Vishuda chackra

Vijjnana for the_ Vishuda chackra

An asana practice based on Primary series with special attention to postures that relate to those areas of the body that are affected by emotional stress due to relationships.

In the second half of the day we explore Yoga philosophy, analysing the tools we were given in the first half of the day so that we can make use of them in our daily sahdana. We discuss both general relationships and more intimate relationships in depth. The study of an ancient scripture from the Upanishad ” Brhadaranyaka ” which says: “Sit beside me and reflect deeply on these words: a woman loves her husband not for his personal being but because God lies within him, my dear, and a husband loves his wife not for her personal being but because God lies within her . . . ”

We will explore the yoga tradition’s perspective on relationships and discuss the tools yoga tradition offers us to take in to our daily lives so we can experience a relationship which is free of ego and power struggle.

About Shimon Ben-Avi

Shimon Ben Avi is a powerful yet very graceful teacher with 26 years of experience and extensive skills especially in teacher training as taught to him by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the founder of Ashtaga Yoga. Just back from the Himalayas, he abounds with wisdom and stories of Eastern Philosophy – in which he holds a PhD… as well as in Mathematics. Going far back to the roots of the Upanishads, Mahabarata and Hindu Philosophy – reading and teaching from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (a Hindu scripture and foundational text of Yoga), he first stimulates and then challenges the mental and spiritual process before taking things to the physical level on “the mat”. While Yoga is in no way a form of competition (very much to the contrary!), Shimon Ben Avi has a unique gift of knowing what’s needed in a student to reach certain initially daunting goals – starting with the mental attitude, self belief, the focus directed to the right spot and … action!